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Opiate use disorders and overdose: Medical students' experiences, satisfaction with learning, and attitudes toward community naloxone provision
- Source :
- Addictive Behaviors. 86:61-65
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Introduction Opiate use disorder is a common condition in healthcare services in Ireland, where over 200 opiate overdose deaths occur annually. There is limited addiction medicine education at undergraduate level and medical graduates may not be adequately prepared to diagnose and manage opioid use disorders and emergency drug overdose presentations. Therefore, we examined final-year medical students' learning experiences and attitudes toward opioid use disorder, overdose and community naloxone provision as an emerging overdose treatment. Methods We administered an anonymous paper-based survey to 243 undergraduate medical students undertaking their final professional completion module prior to graduation from University College Dublin, Ireland. Results were compared with parallel surveys of General Practitioners (GPs) and GP trainees. Results A total of 197 (82.1%) completed the survey. Just under half were male, and most were aged under 25 (63.3%) and of Irish nationality (76.7%). The students felt moderately prepared to recognise opioid use disorder, but felt less prepared to manage other aspects of its care. Most had taken a history from a patient with an opioid use disorder (82.8%), and a third had witnessed at least one opioid overdose. Although 10.3% had seen naloxone administered, most had never administered naloxone themselves (98.5%). Half supported wider naloxone availability; this was lower than support rates among GPs (63.6%) and GP trainees (66.1%). Conclusions Our findings suggest an unmet learning need in undergraduate training on opioid use disorder, with potential consequences for patient care.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Medical education
medicine.medical_specialty
Students, Medical
Overdose education
Attitude of Health Personnel
Narcotic Antagonists
education
030508 substance abuse
Medicine (miscellaneous)
Personal Satisfaction
Toxicology
Drug overdose
Health Services Accessibility
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Naloxone
Health care
Humans
Medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
Psychiatry
business.industry
4. Education
Opioid overdose
Opioid use disorder
Opioid-Related Disorders
medicine.disease
3. Good health
Analgesics, Opioid
Psychiatry and Mental health
Clinical Psychology
Addiction medicine
Naloxone distribution
Overdose prevention
Family practice
Female
Drug Overdose
Opiate
0305 other medical science
business
Ireland
Education, Medical, Undergraduate
Graduation
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 03064603
- Volume :
- 86
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Addictive Behaviors
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....97039132616c507f8d5182e040de0fdb